Fired Journalists Start Web Site, Make $42 A Week

Some laid-off (New Jersey) Star Ledger staffers have used their idle time to start a new news organization: NewJerseyNewsroom (newjerseynewsroom.com).

The reporters-turned-entrepreneurs, who work from the local public library and program the site themselves, now marvel at the ability to publish and update in real time, without interference from editors and delivery trucks.

And this is indeed a miracle and joy.

Alas, the team has now also presumably discovered something else: Why they got canned in the first place.

According to David Carr, NewJerseyNewsroom has generated 51,000 page views since launching on April 16. David Carr says the reporters who write for the site do it out of a love of journalism. And thank goodness for that.

At $20 a thousand (a high monetization rate), that's $1,000 of revenue, or $250 per reporter. That's $42 a week. Yes, the site will grow. But it will have to grow a lot for a senior reporter to support a family on what he or she takes out of it.